Chapter 1: Chapter 1: A Strange Arrival

The first thing Maribel sees when she wakes up is a clear blue sky obscured by a thin canopy of trees.

Which was a very strange situation for her to be in considering that the last thing she remembered doing was laying down in her room to take a nap.

'How the hell did I even get here?!!' Maribel wondered as she sat up. Very confused and very alarmed.

She was certain she had been home before she had fallen asleep, not in the middle of a random ass forest.

Before she had taken her nap Maribel had gone on a few errands with her mom and sister. They had been out for a couple of hours, so Maribel was tired by the time they got home from shopping. She had then decided to take a nap even though she rarely slept in the middle of the day if at all.

So finding herself in a completely different location from where she had originally fallen asleep was highly disturbing. Looking down Maribel found herself surrounded by various items she recognized. For one she was still partially covered by the fluffy blanket she had been using while napping on her sister's bed and under her head was the pillow she used too. She was even still holding on to the blue llama plushy used as an under arm pillow that she sleeps with all the time.

Besides her laying on the ground was also the orange sundress Maribel had wore that day to go out with. The indoor fluffy slippers and the shin length Pikachu socks that she used to walk around at home with.

Quickly Maribel gathered all the items and placed them on top of the new folded up blanket. Placing the blanket on her lap Maribel first decided to take stock of the items in her backpack purse, since she never unpacked it when she came home.

Maribel reached in and pulled out her two sketchbooks and a mini notebook she took everywhere with her. She next pulled out her kitty pencil pouch which was full of various pens, mechanical pencils and erasers she used to sketch with.

'I should take out my penknife from the pouch before I repack everything. I'm definitely gonna need it out here.' Maribel thought making a mental note about her penknife. 'Thank god I didn't unpack my shit before napping or I might not have this here.'

She took out her phone and immediately went to see if she could call anyone. Unfortunately for Maribel she had no signal whatsoever only a lil X on the signal bar.

"Of course it can't be that easy. It never can be." Maribel grumbled before sighing in frustration.

Maribel forcefully pushed down her slowly rising sense of panic as she started to fully realize the very dangerous situation she was currently in.

"Ah! Wait I think I have that in my purse..."

Maribel quickly searched inside her purse a little franticly since the feeling of being unsafe without a weapon fell upon her. The scared 23 year old finally pulled out what she was looking for which was a fully charged sort of mini taser.

You are reading story Love Flourishing in Unlikely Places at novel35.com

'I should probably take out my penknife too. I don't know how many charges I have with this taser on a full battery. Let alone on however much charge it has currently.' Maribel wondered, putting down the taser next to her.

She then grabbed the pencil pouch opening it looking for her penknife. Placing it with her taser she kept taking stock of what else she had in her bag. The last few items she had were her hand held kitty mirror, her pouch of nail care tools, some twizzors, her phones charger, and its wireless headphones.

After seeing everything that she had with her, Maribel was quite worried and anxious. She had only two items she could use to protect herself with. Plus, the clothes she had on nor, the one that came with her were appropriate for surviving in the wild. One were PJs, then a oversized Pokémon hoodie and finally was a light orange and yellow sundress.

"Its official I am so royally fucked right now." Maribel cried, as she placed her face in her hands in misery.

For awhile Maribel just sat there as she was overwhelmed by her panic and terror. She cried out the tears she had been holding back since the moment she realized the horrible situation she was in.

For a half hour, all Maribel did was sit there and cry. Just letting herself have the mental breakdown that she had been pushing back since she woke up until she couldn't keep it in no more. Because she knew that after this meltdown Maribel couldn't allow herself the luxury of letting her emotions get the best of her anymore. Not if she wanted to survive out here with no one but herself to rely on. Maribel needed to be strong, calm and level headed to do all that. So for just a short while she gave herself the precious time to just process her emotions and her situation before she had to bottle up all those pesky feelings back up again and shelve them for later.

After that half hour, Maribel laid there on the forest floor looking at the sky. Exhausted after such a hard crying episode which had caused a slowly growing headache to appear. Maribel hated crying for this very reason. It's why she avoided being too sad or frustrated since she tended to cry too easily when feeling either emotion.

Unfortunately for her, she couldn't have avoided this lil episode even if she wanted to. Which she hadn't because Maribel knew herself and she knew she wouldn't have been able to keep her overflowing panic and fear from spilling out. Keeping her emotions bottled up wasn't a skill Maribel possessed currently and one she hadn't wanted until now. But in her current situation it might be one she'll have to learn on the fly. If only to have a better chance at survival.

Having moped for a bit more Maribel finally sat up, grabbed her backpack, and started repacking everything. She organized it to have as much spare room for future items she might have to carry with her. Maribel then quickly changed from her pjs to her sundress before packing them away until she needed them to sleep in. Maribel then lengthened the bag's straps just enough to be able to squeeze the rolled up blanket between her back and the bag to be able to carry it. She had also used her phone charger to tie up her plushy and hung it off one of the straps as to keep her hands free.

Having everything packed away her taser and penknife in her hands, Maribel was as ready as she could be. It was finally time for her to start her search for some form of civilization and to get out of this wilderness.

Maribel took a deep shaky breath as she looked into the forest trying to give herself a pep talk. 'Alright its go time. You can do this. Just go slow and carefully. Keep a look and ear out for anything dangerous so you can avoid it. You'll be fine.'

"Ok it's time to go." Maribel whispered in apprehension. As she choose a direction and started to walk. Hoping her luck gave her a break and she choose the right one that would lead her to other people.